Raccoon Youngsters Foraging

A couple of young raccoons took advantage of the milder temps to look for food. Raccoons normally hibernate during freezing temps but leave the den to eat when the temps are not so frigid. 

 

 

Update on Baby Raccoons

I still haven't seen mama, but the babies have pretty much stayed where I had first found them. I'm hoping that is a good sign! Playing on the road IS NOT a good sign! I waived off a vehicle yesterday, so that the driver would see them in the roadway. The lil guys eventually went into the brush for safety.

Bandit Baby

It must be my week for finding babies (more to come). This lil guy had 2 other siblings who were much more shy than him. They foraged around the forest edge as I went by at 2 different times, nevering seeing mom around. I wonder if they might just be orphaned. I will go by tonight to check on them, and hopefully find mom.

High Five!

While muddin my way through the woods and before I stumbled upon the wood ducks, I happened to catch a glimpse of some fluff sticking out of the top of a rotted tree trunk while scanning the trees for migrants. I knew exactly what it was, and rounded the tree to get a better view. What I couldn't see from behind the trunk was the paw sticking out lazily as the raccoon napped. Hearing my shutter fire, the furry arm tucked into the trunk hollow for safekeeping. I got the message, I left him to return to his napping. It doesn't look very comfortable though, does it?

Raccoon Hammock

I hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day...Most of us have a day off from the daily grind and I plan on taking it easy today like this raccoon!

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."


I wish I would have taken a distant shot of this fella. You could see this guy in the tree from the parking lot, but didn't know exactly what it was. I couldn't believe it was in this particular tree, given its lack of cover.
Taken 2nd week in April.

If you see "Poppy's" please support the Veterans!

Rockin the Foxes!

This fox is a mother of 5. She had 6 which is a horrible story, so I won't get into that. She resides in this wooded field which borders Nettle Creek. I have spent plenty of hours in the bushes waiting for her or her kits to come out of their den. As the picture reveals, she did spot me for this shot. She had just brought home dinner when a neighborhood dog flushed her from some brush. She ran into the den with her meal, and then ran past me for escape. She stopped, took a look at me, then bolted. While sitting in the bushes for 3 hours, I had heard a sound, which at first I thought was squirrel chatter, coming from behind me. I knew that wasn't quite right, then I thought that just maybe... it was a raccoon. I turned around and found a hole in a tree and waited. All of a sudden, it came crawling out of this hole and carefully climbed down a ways before it saw me. It stopped, checked me out, then continued down on the backside of the tree. A few minutes later, I hear that sound again, coming from the same place, and I immediately thought "Baby!" I turned around, and yes, there it was, head sticking out of the hole, crying for mama. Awesome! That whole day was just amazing!